Fergie's striking claim: United boss reckons RVP, Rooney, Chicharito and Welbeck are a fabber four than his heroes of 1999 (and these are the stats that prove... he's right!)

He stopped short of adding a Rafa Benitez-style ‘fact’, but there could be no disputing Sir Alex Ferguson’s assertion that his current Manchester United strike force is more than a match for their famous predecessors from the late 1990s.

It may have sounded like classic Ferguson psychology when he assessed the merits of Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie, Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck and hailed them as the best he has had.

It is some claim, given the contribution of Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Teddy Sheringham to the United manager’s Champions’ League breakthrough 14 years ago, but the facts bear him out.

Two goals for Hernandez and one for Rooney, in a 4-1 dismantling of feeble Fulham, took the current quartet’s overall tally this season to 47, one more than the 1998-99 combination had managed at the same stage.

And that was despite Rooney having to stand by and watch Ryan Giggs convert a penalty after being relieved of spot-kick duties, following one miss too many in the third-round replay against West Ham.

Asked if his present attacking unit was the best in his time at Old Trafford, Ferguson said: ‘I think so, yes. The four in ‘99 were fantastic players, and you couldn’t possibly criticise them, but we have four today that are equally as good.

‘What I’m really pleased with is Chicharito has two, and that puts him up to 14. Wayne got one and Ryan got one, and if we get three or four players around the 20-goal bracket, then we’re in business.

‘Ryan is probably one of our best penalty-takers to be honest. With Wayne missing a penalty, it was time to give him a break. He’ll come back to it, there’s no doubt about that, because the one thing about Wayne is that it doesn’t faze him if he misses. He has a fantastic temperament for that.

‘Chicharito got the break in the summer, the little rest he needed, and you can see the benefit. It’s a terrible dilemma when I have that lad there. Sometimes I leave him out to bring in Robin van Persie but as I explained to him, we regard him so highly.

So who's the fabbest four?

Manchester United's front four have fared better at thisstage of the season than Sir Alex Ferguson’s treblewinners had at the same point in the campaign.

‘He is a fantastic professional with an unbelievable attitude to the game. He never stops running or working and every training session is the same. So I’m really pleased for him, and it’s good to see Wayne back scoring.

‘And Giggs, he’s definitely fading, isn’t he?!’

Martin Jol pinpointed his transfer priority for the remainder of the January window and admitted an early Cup exit might not exactly hinder Fulham’s Barclays Premier League survival prospects.

‘Today showed we need specific qualities in midfield,’ said the Fulham manager. ‘Hopefully we can do something in that area that can improve us and help us do better.

‘You can’t guarantee it (that sides at the bottom will fare better without Cup ties to worry about), but on the other hand, I always like it if teams around us have replays or stay in the competition. So in that respect, it is probably better to be out of it.’

P.S.: there can be no easing up by the current quartet. Their treble-winning counterparts ended the season with 76 goals between them (Yorke 29, Cole 24, Solskjaer 18, Sheringham 5).